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This week's Tsubasa - Chapter 187
Two items of snark:
1. Crack pairing in the frontpiece illustration. I wholeheartedly approve of this one.
2.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
atelierjoh and I SO CALLED IT.
But I can't say anything else to make fun of this chapter. This is pure CLAMP tragedy, back in form: absolutely heartbreaking, just incredibly sad, and paired with imaginative visuals that not only look very pretty but are capable of completely ripping your heart out.
In other words, somebody died, and I actually cared.
I'm not going to do a full run-down this time, because like I said, there's very little in this chapter that deserves snarking. But, to briefly recap:
Everybody in the time-looped village is dead. The apple-seller's son is the last to die. He dies slowly and horribly. Syaoran embraces him as he dies, and apologizes for causing the destruction of the time loop, swearing that he will bear the responsibility of the deaths that he has caused. (Kurogane, Fay, and Mokona assure Syaoran that they share his "sin," too.)
CLAMP tries to give Our Heroes a bit of moral wiggle-room, by having Syaoran explain that being trapped in looped time is the same as death, so... It's not like the villagers are any more "dead" now than they were before. But still. Syaoran the character, and CLAMP the authors, both recognize the horror of what has happened in the village, and they do not shy away from embracing that horror. Compare this to the Fay arc, which ended with a huge moral cop-out because I guess CLAMP couldn't stand the idea of Fay having ever done something awful. So yeah. I much prefer this storyline, because it doesn't flinch in the face of tragedy.
Syaoran promises the apple-seller's son, "I will keep moving forward, I will seek to fulfill my wish, and I will accept, without regret, the burden of the consequences of my actions." Watching Syaoran through his Magic Mirror, FWR reflects that he's not so different himself - willing to do whatever it takes, commit any sins, in order to fulfill his wish.
Syaoran urges everyone to move on to the ruins, because that's where Sakura is. Fay, being smart, asks, "Which Sakura?"
Syaoran answers, "The Sakura that I met."
Kurogane: "You mean, through the clone's eye?"
Syaoran: "No. I mean that Sakura that was always by my side, until the time when Reed captured me."
Ladies and gentlemen, we now have Sakura #3. So yeah. I called it.
Status of Sakura so far:
Sakura #1. This is the Sakura that fell in love with clone!Syaoran (and vice versa) during their childhood. She was captured by FWR at the ruins, in the first chapter of the manga. FWR reports that her soul is imprisoned but her physical body dissolved. Other than that, we haven't seen or heard from her since the first chapter of the manga.
Sakura #2. This is the clone!Sakura created by FWR who went on a journey with Syaoran and company, who thought that she was Sakura #1. (Except for Fay.) In the Infinity arc, her soul was separated from her body. Then in the Nihon arc, her soul was killed, and her body was stolen by Kyle. Currently FWR has her corpse.
Sakura #3. New Sakura! This is the Sakura who lived in the universe that real!Syaoran is originally from. (And I guess Our Heroes are in that universe now?) So far we don't know anything about her, but she's at the ruins! So let's go to the ruins! Also, she's only seven years old, since this is THE PAST! Also, she might be stuck in a time loop and she might spontaneously combust! But we'll see.
I knew that the manga was going to delve into real!Syaoran's past eventually, and I knew that there would be a Sakura in his past, because it's like one of the fundamental laws of the CLAMP multiverse: Where there is a Syaoran, there is a Sakura.
Hopefully next week we will actually get to see the ruins and meet this third Sakura. Although CLAMP might very well waste another chapter on just having Our Heroes journey to to the ruins.
Thirteen chapters left.
1. Crack pairing in the frontpiece illustration. I wholeheartedly approve of this one.
2.
atelierjoh and I SO CALLED IT.But I can't say anything else to make fun of this chapter. This is pure CLAMP tragedy, back in form: absolutely heartbreaking, just incredibly sad, and paired with imaginative visuals that not only look very pretty but are capable of completely ripping your heart out.
In other words, somebody died, and I actually cared.
I'm not going to do a full run-down this time, because like I said, there's very little in this chapter that deserves snarking. But, to briefly recap:
Everybody in the time-looped village is dead. The apple-seller's son is the last to die. He dies slowly and horribly. Syaoran embraces him as he dies, and apologizes for causing the destruction of the time loop, swearing that he will bear the responsibility of the deaths that he has caused. (Kurogane, Fay, and Mokona assure Syaoran that they share his "sin," too.)
CLAMP tries to give Our Heroes a bit of moral wiggle-room, by having Syaoran explain that being trapped in looped time is the same as death, so... It's not like the villagers are any more "dead" now than they were before. But still. Syaoran the character, and CLAMP the authors, both recognize the horror of what has happened in the village, and they do not shy away from embracing that horror. Compare this to the Fay arc, which ended with a huge moral cop-out because I guess CLAMP couldn't stand the idea of Fay having ever done something awful. So yeah. I much prefer this storyline, because it doesn't flinch in the face of tragedy.
Syaoran promises the apple-seller's son, "I will keep moving forward, I will seek to fulfill my wish, and I will accept, without regret, the burden of the consequences of my actions." Watching Syaoran through his Magic Mirror, FWR reflects that he's not so different himself - willing to do whatever it takes, commit any sins, in order to fulfill his wish.
Syaoran urges everyone to move on to the ruins, because that's where Sakura is. Fay, being smart, asks, "Which Sakura?"
Syaoran answers, "The Sakura that I met."
Kurogane: "You mean, through the clone's eye?"
Syaoran: "No. I mean that Sakura that was always by my side, until the time when Reed captured me."
Ladies and gentlemen, we now have Sakura #3. So yeah. I called it.
Status of Sakura so far:
Sakura #1. This is the Sakura that fell in love with clone!Syaoran (and vice versa) during their childhood. She was captured by FWR at the ruins, in the first chapter of the manga. FWR reports that her soul is imprisoned but her physical body dissolved. Other than that, we haven't seen or heard from her since the first chapter of the manga.
Sakura #2. This is the clone!Sakura created by FWR who went on a journey with Syaoran and company, who thought that she was Sakura #1. (Except for Fay.) In the Infinity arc, her soul was separated from her body. Then in the Nihon arc, her soul was killed, and her body was stolen by Kyle. Currently FWR has her corpse.
Sakura #3. New Sakura! This is the Sakura who lived in the universe that real!Syaoran is originally from. (And I guess Our Heroes are in that universe now?) So far we don't know anything about her, but she's at the ruins! So let's go to the ruins! Also, she's only seven years old, since this is THE PAST! Also, she might be stuck in a time loop and she might spontaneously combust! But we'll see.
I knew that the manga was going to delve into real!Syaoran's past eventually, and I knew that there would be a Sakura in his past, because it's like one of the fundamental laws of the CLAMP multiverse: Where there is a Syaoran, there is a Sakura.
Hopefully next week we will actually get to see the ruins and meet this third Sakura. Although CLAMP might very well waste another chapter on just having Our Heroes journey to to the ruins.
Thirteen chapters left.